inducedjoy

About Me

My name is Alexa and I'm from Philadelphia. I'm 19 years old and I was diagnosed with celiac disease in january of 2011. I had symptoms of celiac for most of my life, but because I thought it was normal to constantly be in pain, I never said anything to my parents. Finally, the truth came out once I started missing school regularly, and after 3 years of seeing a GI who told me my issues were because I was overweight, I finally got my diagnosis. I had complete villous atrophy at that point, and I am still in the healing process! Going gluten free was easier than I had originally anticipated because I was lucky to have such interested and supportive family and friends. If you have anything you'd like to ask me about my celiac disease or anything else, please feel free to contact me!

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Active Posts4

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Member TitleNew Community Member

Age22 years old

BirthdayJuly 10, 1993

Gender

Female

Location

Philadelphia

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I am so fed up. I am trying to be patient but I don't know what to do. I went VERY gluten free about 1 month ago but have been gluten light for 1 1/2 years (I thought I was gluten-free....I didn't know better). So, I haven't been 100% gluten-free for very long. I also figured out about 6 months ago I react to soy, and 2 months ago I react to caesin. I also have a problem with nightshades, vinegar, beans, corn, rice, quinoa. EVERYTHING! I seem to do ok with many leafy veggies and fruits. Red meat, fish, and shellfish. Thats about it.

I am currently trying to do the GAPS diet and am even reacting with that. Apparently chicken and chicken broth are intolerances as well. I can't handle the 1 tsp. of fermented veggie juice. I get D with that too. I have no idea what to do. This diet is terrible and not actually helping.

I have terrible stomach pains, burning pains. alternating C and D depending on the food. I get tingling and numbness in my mouth and arms if I eat an offending food. I can't afford to continue the intro to GAPS honestly and its not helping.

SO, what to do!? Do I just need to be more patient. How long did it take for those of you with similar issues to see changes? I really don't want to do GAPS or SCD. They are miserable and ineffective for me. Is it related to stress? I feel like I am so focused and stressed about all food. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. I honestly do not know what I would do without this forum. It has been so nice to see others making this work and reading about your experiences.

Thanks everyone

Unfortunately, the simple answer is yes, you just need to be more patient.

Healing from celiac disease is different for everyone. People go undiagnosed for years and the severity of it differs greatly from one individual to another. Healing can be anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, maybe even more, according to what my GI has told me. My advice is to stick to the foods you know won't cause a reaction, even if that means severely limiting your diet. The very sad reality of having celiac disease or any other food intolerance/allergy is that we can't just be "fed up with it." You will have this forever. It was hard for me to come to terms with it, but it's a fact of reality. It's frustrating and upsetting to not be able to eat the way you once did, and waiting for healing to happen can be lengthy and painful when you're still dealing with intense symptoms. However, nothing you do can speed things up. You can only continue to eat a healthy, COMPLETELY gluten free diet and wait for the healing to happen. I hope you find relief soon, it took me over a year of being completely gluten free to stop having symptoms. Even now, almost two years after being diagnosed, I still have symptoms every once in while (mind you, i had an extremely heavy case of celiac, and I had it for almost my entire life before finding out). With all of this said, patience is the key, and you can rely on your family and friends when the going gets tough. It's difficult to accept it and to be patient with your body, but it will pay off once you're healthy again.